“You are not on earth to make things happen. You are not on earth to spread the love. You are not on earth to make it a better place or to learn acceptance of the things you cannot change. You are not on earth to find your soul mate or your purpose. You are not on earth to put the needs of others before your own. And you are most certainly not on earth, Mariah Howland, to suffer, pay penance, be tested, or judged.

Did I leave anything out?

You are on earth, Mariah, because in your loftiest state of being, perched high above the wonderment, at the pinnacle of your glory, you wondered what it would be like, even fleetingly, to believe in limits.

You sage,The Universe”

These "Notes from the Universe" certainly have a ring to them. Something about them seems appealing in a very dreamy sort of way. This particular quote has been posted and re-posted everywhere of late. Mike Dooley, bestselling author, speaker, and entrepreneur in the philosophical New Thought movement is the genius behind these "inspirational" quotes and the his movement has over 1,500,000 adherents in the U.S. alone.

These "notes" are popular, it would seem, because they validate some notion that we do not need Christian values in order to be happy, successful, or healthy. Anyone who has searched for meaning in their life will be ready to latch on to these kinds of thoughts, especially those who have been disillusioned by or alienated from mainstream religion. The ideas that true human selfhood is divine and that we are subject to the "law of attraction" are all part of this New Age school of thought.

A little further research into what the New Thought movement is all about reveals that there is an emphasis on unconditional love and on healing one another. With that said I still have trouble with the "You are not on earth to make things happen; you are not on Earth to spread the love" quote. Either the quote is part of a larger context or it is in direct opposition to what the movement claims to teach.

Either way, the "you are not on earth" message, by being quoted and re-quoted has the effect of validating our selfish nature. If one buys into the meaning of the quote, at least on its surface, one accepts permission to put himself or herself ahead of everyone and everything else. We need to ask ourselves, "How could we not be meant to spread the love or make the world a better place? Why would you not put the needs of others before your own?" Isn't all sin just the expression of selfishness?

The New Age movement, it would seem, has become popular for many because the underlying message is that it's all about us and our divine personhood; we are great in and of ourselves and there are no limits to our greatness. (Humility this isn't.) Better yet, we don't have to ever feel guilty about anything and we can pretty much do whatever we want. What bothers me about all this is the casual way in which Christians embrace these teachings without realizing how contrary they are to the fundamental teachings of Christianity.

True Christians already know what their purpose is, and they ought to know that embracing New Age thought is an outright denial of Christian teaching, no matter how Christian-based the New Thought movement claims to be. In this writer's humble opinion, we can't be both. The New Thought movement has every right to exist as does any other belief system in our free republic. There is just a certain disappointment in the air when seemingly serious believers turn into "anything goes" believers, and still claim to be the followers of Christ.